Project management systems abound in many forms today. The most common project management systems and software are complicated and difficult to learn. Users must be familiar not only with general computer functionality but also the specific type of idiom related to project management. For example, to schedule and monitor tasks, a necessary skill associated with project management, a user must rely on the use of complicated charts to manage the duration and resources associated with the tasks of a project.
Additionally, a common problem with many project management systems is that the visual representation of the project's underlying data tends to be comprehensive and complex. In many project management systems, simple additions or changes to a project or task require extensive and time-consuming navigation and editing of data across a multitude of display screens. Additionally, a visual inspection of the project or task data requires the same navigation of multiple display screens. Moreover, present project management systems tend to treat all deadlines and milestones alike, without drawing any visual attention to those that are more important or pending immediate attention.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,391 discloses a method for creating and displaying a type of bar chart called a Gantt chart. To use the method, a user is required to be skilled in understanding how Gantt charts display time sequencing through the use of timeline bars visually displayed within the chart. Additionally, because the data of the project is displayed in charts with multiple timeline bars, there is no intuitive view of the overall data from a single view.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,050 discloses a project management system that incorporates the use of a data-wedged pyramid graphical interface for navigating through the data associated with the project. However, the graphical interface is static and does not present any of the underlying data in combination with the interface. The interface merely serves as a front-end to get to the underlying data.
In yet another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,345 teaches a project management system that identifies and displays a variety of project design objectives, the groups of persons responsible for those objectives, and the progress made toward the objectives. However, the data associated with the project is contained in a plurality of display windows and is not easily navigable or ascertained. While the interface provides the status of an objective, a user must know how that status relates to other objectives. The interface does not convey graphically an impression that any objectives may be more urgent than others.
Finally, the present project management systems do not provide a quick, intuitive way for a user to manage, join, assign, or otherwise provide project management functions across an enterprise-wide network environment without having to add additional hardware or software at the server or client level. Additionally, the systems rely on slow scripting from the server side to display poorly displayed Web pages that graphically do not enhance the viewing, editing or navigation of the data presented.
Accordingly, there is a need for an easy-to-use project management system with an intuitive graphical interface that overcomes the many drawbacks of the prior existing methods and systems.